1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of kick panels for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of kick panels for the mounting of large, high quality speakers in vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The installation of speakers in automobiles is well known in the prior art and oftentimes the speakers are mounted in the kick panels adjacent to the legs of the driver and front seat passenger. In general the purpose of kick panels is to provide a finished surface for the portion of the walls of the passenger compartment in the area under the dashboard. Usually such panels are made of hardboard or heavy resilient plastic in order to withstand the occasional impact of passengers' shoes. Another purpose of kick panels is to provide a covering for a layer of heavy fiber insulation that provides sound deadening to protect the passengers from sounds from outside the automobile. Such soundproofing material is usually about one inch thick and fills the cavity created by the kick panel and the outside wall or front fender.
Another purpose which kick panels serve is to provide a mounting surface for fresh air vents. Automobile manufacturers have traditionally found it convenient to mount a fresh air vent in the upper portion of a kick panel. The vents are usually simple grills attached to the kick panel. Fresh air is fed to the back of the grill by way of an air duct that fits into a channel cut into the one inch layer of insulation between the panel and the outside wall of the automobile.
It has been a common practice for an owner of an automobile who wishes to improve his sound system to install new speakers in the kick panels. In general, such installations were convenient and provided certain advantages over the factory supplied speaker. The location of the speakers at the outermost perimeter of the automobile and adjacent to the passengers provided the maximum in stereophonic effect. Also, placing the kick panels under the dashboard makes the speaker retained therein easily accessible for running wiring from a radio located in the dashboard.
The installation of speakers in kick panels can also be problematic. The installer is confronted with several limitations that restrict the choice of speakers which may be installed. The depth of the audio speaker that may be used is limited by the distance from the surface of the kick panel to the outside wall of front fender of the automobile. In most cases this dimension is about one to one and one fourth inches. This limitation, in turn, restricts the diameter of the speaker cone. In many cases the size of the cone becomes limited to a diameter of four inches which results in poor sound quality. To overcome this problem owners may purchase larger, specially shaped, speakers that produce better sound. In addition to the increased cost, these speakers can cause a new problem: the fresh air vent must be sacrificed or moved to a different location.